Stay or Leave?

This is a class, intended both for people who are single and who are in couples, that explores the question: what is a good enough relationship?

It can be remarkably hard to know what level of compromise, hard work, difficulty and everyday scratchiness we should accept in love. On the one hand, our culture presents us with seductive images of constant intense love and passion; on the other, we hear reminders that relationships are hard work and that we should keep our expectations in check.

How then are we to assess the relationships that come our way? How can we decide what the right, sensible level of joy and frustration might be?

This class takes an audit of love in general and our relationships in particular. It examines the following topics:

How much should two people argue and how should they do it?

What should a partner understand about us? And what should we not expect them to grasp?

How do we assess our own ideas of a ‘deal-breaker’?

What level of sexual satisfaction is to be expected?

Aside from auditing our attitudes to love, this class also offers a variety of approaches for either improving or exiting relationships, giving us the tools to put our desires into practice

Stay or Leave? shows us that many of the answers we crave around love are within us already, waiting for the correct tool to extract them.

Explore More

Stay or Leave? is one of the twelve classes that comprise our core curriculum. Our classes tackle the core themes of emotional life, from relationships and the workplace, to understanding the self and exploring our relationship with culture. You can explore the full curriculum here.

The School of Life Curriculum has been written, designed and quality assured by The School of Life HQ in London, led by Alain de Botton. Presented as an EQ learning journey, these 12 classes and 4 full-day workshops bring together over 10 years of teaching and continuous improvement of our emotional intelligence curriculum around the world.

About Classes

Our classes have been designed to give useful insights around the big themes in life. You’ll be challenged to think deeply and have courageous conversations about the issues that matter most, and you’ll be encouraged to step outside your comfort zone in a safe space with other curious, open-minded individuals.

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